VOL. 7.

C: A. CUTTER, General Editor. F: LEYPOLDT, Managing Editor.

Communications for the JOURNAL, exchanges, and editors' copies, should be addressed C: A. CUTTER, Boston Athenæum, Boston, Mass.

European matter may be sent to the care of H: R. TEDDER, Sec. L. A. U. K., Athenæum Club, Pall Mall, S. W., London.

Remittances and orders for subscriptions and advertisements should be addressed to THE LIBRARY JOURNAL, 13 & 15 Park Row (P. O. Box 943), New York Remittances should be made by draft on New York, P. O. order, or registered letter.

The Editors are not responsible for the views expressed in contributed articles or communications, nor for the style of spelling, capitalization, etc., in articles whose authors request adherence to their own style.

Subscribers are entitled to advertise books wanted, or duplicates for sale or exchange, at the nominal rate of 5 cents per line (regular rate 15 cents); also to advertise for situations or assistance to the extent of five lines free of charge.

THE Source of liberality to libraries shows no signs of failing. Pittsburgh not long since, Baltimore twice lately, have drunk freely at the fountain. New York and Brooklyn are striking the rock. It will be strange indeed if the metropolis of the country and its sister do not get the small rills which they ask for. After Baltimore's million, New York's $200,000 and Brooklyn's $160,000 do not look very large. But it is one thing to receive from unsolicited generosity and quite another thing to beg. To him that asks shall not be given is too apt to be the way of the world. Mr. Choate will not see his millionaires jostling one another in their eagerness to get to the treasurer and offer their $100,000 checks.

Nevertheless we have no fears of the result. Agitation is needed; hard work is needed; but the work will be fruitful. Before many years we shall see branch libraries springing up in all poor quarters of the city close to the homes of

No. 1.

the people who will use them, each serving a district not so large that the personal influence of the librarian cannot come into play-the parish churches of literature and education.

BALTIMORE is to have a new library building, capable of holding 200,000 v. at a cost of $225,000, given by Mr. Enoch Pratt, who is to add a gift of $833,000 on condition that the city will guarantee an income of $50,000 a year for the maintenance of the library. Truly, Baltimore is a city of magnificent donations-witness the Peabody Institute and the Johns Hopkins University. Now Baltimore will have provisions of books for all classes, not like Boston in one establishment, but like New York, with her Free Public Library (which has not yet found its millionaire), her subscription mercantile libraries, and her uncirculating Astor and Lenox collections. Our descendants will be able to watch the working out of the problem of the comparative efficiency of the two systems. All that we are in a position to say is that both are good, and to pray that munificent millionaires may be multiplied.

THIS removal of the Baltimore Mercantile Library is made possible by the generous offer of Mr. J: W. McCoy to guarantee the rent ($2500) for five years, and to give $10,000 if a fund is raised for the library which shall yield $3000 a year. The attempt to reinforce and maintain an excellent library is worthy of all praise. How it will succeed will depend in great measure upon the way in which the Pratt Free Library is managed. Public libraries do not always kill proprietary libraries in the same city; but the proprietary library must be well established and well endowed, or it cannot meet the competition. If it depends wholly upon its receipts from subscribers, its extinction is merely a question of time.

United Kingdom Association.

NOVEMBER MONTHLY MEETING.

AT the November monthly meeting no business of importance was done. The Monthly notes for Nov. is therefore filled with interesting "Library notes," among which we may notice a demand from Mr. E. Marshall for a new arrangement of the Bodleian reading-room that would accommodate more readers and present a better selection of books of reference; and a speech of Prof. Rogers, M. P., at the opening of a branch of the South London Free Library. "In America," he said, "every large town has its free schools, and its free public library supported out of the local rates. The consequence is that an uneducated American, of the second generation, is hardly ever met with." He considered there was never a baser calumny than the stock phrase that education puts a man above his work, and he showed how the employers were the better for the skill of educated workmen, and described what philosophers and authors have done for mankind, dwelling upon the influence produced on men's minds and characters by reading and study. There is also a page of " Bibliographical notes" and five Latin inscriptions relating to libraries.

The December monthly meeting was also confined to routine business. The Monthly notes for December contain a page of " Library notes," a title and table of contents to the 2d volume, and the report of a committee of the Council on a journal for the Association, from which it appears that the Monthly notes are to be increased to 16 pp. and wrapper, and to be brought out in better style, that advertisements are to be accepted, and that the Council are to pay half the cost of printing, but not over £25 a year. The transactions of the last annual meeting are to be printed in the same manner as those of former years.

after each general meeting of the A. L. A., chairmen of sections to report at the next general meeting on the progress and state of the matters referred to each section.

In accordance with this plan, the Board appointed to report at the Cincinnati meeting, as follows:

General progress of library interests, Justin Winsor, Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Mass.

Legislation, H: A. Homes, State Librarian, Albany, N. Y.

Buildings (including location, heating, lighting, ventilation), W: F: Poole, Chicago Public Library.

Cataloging and Classification, C: A. Cutter, Boston Athenæum.

Aids and guides for readers, S: S. Green, Public Library, Worcester, Mass.

Fiction, F: B Perkins, Public Library, San Francisco, Cal.

Reading of the young, Miss C. M. Hewins, Hartford Library, Conn.

The Secretary stated the plan to be that each Chairman should carefully collect and preserve everything bearing on his topic during the year which he might see or have sent to him. This he would condense and put in shape for a concise annual exhibit at the general meeting. Each member, or other person interested, should send to the proper chairman any experiences, suggestions, reference, or queries, that might be of service in making the report complete, thus focalizing each topic.

Adjourned.

A true copy: Attest,

MELVIL DUI, Sec. Present, Winsor, Cutter, Green, Scudder, Jackson, Whitney, Dui.

COMMUNICATIONS.

ANNOTATED CATALOGUES.

IN the preface to the very convenient classified catalogue-Supplement of the New York

MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD.

A REGULARLY called meeting of the Board was called to order by President Winsor at 2 P.M., Jan. 1, 1882. Chairman Cutter, of the Co-operation Committee, reported on the plans for carrying on the A. L. A. Catalog, reading a letter from F: B. Perkins. After full discussion it was

Voted, that the Co-operation Committee select specialists to edit the A. L. A. Catalog in sections under the supervision of the Co-operation Committee.

A letter from C. W. Merrill, of the Cincinnati Reception Committee, was read, and its suggestions approved by the Board.

On motion of the Secretary it was
Voted, that the Executive Board appoint,

says:

"An innovation in catalogue-making has sprung up within ten years in the shape of brief notes appended to special subjects in which, among other objects, a critical estimate of the principal authorities is attempted. The field thus far covered is a very narrow one, and is mainly restricted to history and historical fiction. . . It seems to the compiler that an annotated catalogue of this kind, to be of any real value and authority, should be done by a body of experts, and that the system of notes and suggestions ought to be carried out in detail in all the principal branches of knowledge. . . . Even in the limited range of the notes already published, it has seemed to him that in some cases the information given is misleading and that the value of the suggestions made would have been greatly enhanced had the notes been submitted to specialists for revision."

The catalogues instanced in support of this criticism are five (pioneers) issued under my supervision while at the head of the Public Library in Boston, and the Quincy and Brooklyn catalogues. I speak only for myself.

First. I did what I could in the four years of my service at the Public Library which followed the first publication of such catalogue there in 1873; and that other "principal departments of knowledge" have not been covered is, so far as I am concerned, owing to the fact that I only professed to make an experimental beginning, and when their usefulness was established I was called away to other service.

Second. In all my notes so printed, which were of any scope, my drafts were "submitted to specialists for revision."

Third. I have not found specialists always able to put themselves in the proper position to instruct the general reader concerning the bibliographical apparatus of their department. It is often enough the fact to be almost a rule, that "specialists" have, and sometimes desire, no knowledge of books on their subjects intended for the general reader. It is quite a different function to be a good investigator and a good purveyor of knowledge. Possibly, the

misleading " element can be traced to the very source in question. JUSTIN WINSOR.

THE MANNER OF INDEXING PERIODICALS.

WITH the hesitation natural to, and becoming in, one who first treads a foreign province peopled by native giants, the writer ventures a question and a few observations to the august constituency of the Journal.

The subject in general, the indexing of special articles in periodicals; the question in particular, the manner of indicating volume and issue containing the same. This subject may be mummied in the pyramids of the bibliographical art for aught the ignorant questioner knows; if it is, his ignorance is demonstrated and his enlightenment may ensue.

Briefly in indexing articles on particular classes of subjects, in both general and special periodicals and eccentric publications, many difficulties are encountered in classifying and arranging in available form, the contents of a library of any size. The labor of the cataloguer becomes child's play, however, when compared with that of the special investigator, if the catalogue be not full and accurate.

How

In journals devoted to specialties many instances occur where a series of articles is published at irregular intervals and scattered through two or more volumes or years. are you going to present an entry in such a case so that the investigator won't have to examine page by page the volumes if they happen to be without indexes, which is often the case, or with useless indexes, as is the rule where there are any? The usual method of indicating the locality of these articles, in the more perfect catalogues, is by volume and page. This is satisfactory as far as it goes, but let us see if

the material cannot be presented in a form more valuable to the hypothetical investigator. Not the least valuable information to him is the date of publication, which is rarely or never given in connection with an entry of this kind.* This is valuable for comparison, and to enable him to form some idea of the contemporaneous value of an article. Take an example of the ordinary usage, and see what the result will be. Suppose it is desired to investigate the general subject of fine arts. The entries under this title are examined, and, among others, you find one of a review by J. Neal, of Jarvis's Art Hints, that is entered North Am. review, v. 81, p. 436, or 436, v. 81. Perhaps there are a dozen men in the country who could tell, without examination, in what year that volume of the North American was published. Perhaps there are not. Why not at once give this crumb of information, saying North Am. r., Oct., 1855. If the article was resumed in the issue of April, 1856, add that fact.

Perhaps some one would suggest the addition of an essay after each entry. Well, why not, if funds are available and eternity doesn't begin too soon?

The tendency of all cataloguing is in the direction of fulness, and the old single-line entry is taking its place in the congregation of things that were. It is quite possible that some one has been thoughtful enough to provide dates following numbers of volume and page, but if so, why not further concede uniformity, and instead of 436, v. 81 (1855), substitute the form suggested. If the article be prolonged through a number of months and the prospect of a formidable line of names of months be appalling, why not substitute arbitrary letters of the alphabet for names of months?

The precise page is a great convenience in bound volumes of current periodicals, but I contend it does not meet the requirements of investigators of the class indicated. H. M. WRIght.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 1882.

[The precise page is too great a convenience to be omitted. Why not give the reference thus, N. Am. rev., 81: 436, 1855? The year alone is all that is wanted for a date.--ED.]

IN RE FOTHERGILL.

ON page 325 of our last volume, M. M. M. queries which of the works of Jessie Fothergill could, as implied in the circular of the Cooperation Committee, possibly be placed on the library black list, and on what ground? The question is raised in justice to one of the purest authors of to-day."

M. M. M. perhaps has not read the circular of the Committee very attentively. They issued a "list of authors, all or some of whose works are sometimes excluded from public libraries by reason of sensational or immoral qualities." It is no imputation on the purity of an author to include her in this list. Miss Fothergill,

[It is given in the Boston Athenæum catalogue.- Ep.

however, is not so entirely above reproach as M. M. M. thinks. Of "Healey," Mr. G: Saintsbury writes in the Academy, Sept. 4, 1875, that it is probably one of the worst books (we use the superlative thoughtfully and deliberately) ever written. It is emphatically

bad. Its plot is improbable, its views are unreal, its ideals of character mischievous, its reflections theatrical." The Committee thought it possible that such a book might have been excluded from some very careful libraries, and put in the name as a sort of high-water mark of exclusion. CO-OPERATION COMMITTEE.

THE Co-operation Committee has not quite met my question. The disclaimer, "It is no imputation on the purity of an author to include him in the list," is actually reversed in the same breath, viz., "Miss Fothergill, however, is not entirely above reproach, as M. M. M. thinks." Clearly the latter sentence in its direct relation to the former, and in its relation to the fact that M. M. M. has taken no other ground than that of "purity," does not remove the imputation." Possibly it was not so meant; nor, in fact, is such meaning conveyed by the verdict of Mr. Saintsbury. The "emphatically bad" was evidently used in a general literary sense, as shown by the particulars, and the "not entirely above reproach" may thus be taken "by reason of sensational qualities." Yet, whether or no Mr. Saintsbury has meant "bad" also in the sense opposite to "pure" (chaste, moral), unless the Committee's action was based on tested library experience, neither his nor any one person's judgment should be taken upon so serious a matter as an author's reputation. Mr. Saintsbury is a very able critic, but, with due respect to his superior ability, I venture, in this matter, to disagree with him on every particular-without, however, claiming for one individual opinion what I deny to the other. But, waiving my own opinion and granting that Mr. Saintsbury was right, I still hold that the Committee was wrong in identifying, on account of a single work, the name of the author (lectively) with names representative of the qualities condemned. If Healey" were a typical work of Miss Fothergill, the case might stand; but "Healey" above all, one of her first works, if not her first, published here anonymously some seven years ago, when no one even knew of the existence of a Miss Fothergill, has been so little associated with that author in the mind of the general reader, that in this, if in any case, it would have been more proper to quote, in place of the name of the author, the book itself, and as an exceptional one. But, then, who could not quote an exceptional book" even by a Charlotte Brontë, Thackeray, Charles Reade, George Eliot-aye, by a Nathaniel Hawthorne that it would not be wise to put into the hands of every reader; and yet, would it not be doing these writers gross injustice to use their names even as a "high-water mark of exclusion"? M. M. M.

SCRAPS OF SCRIPT.

You require your readers in calling for a book to give author's name, first part of the title, and the number.' Mr. Dui obliges them to write on their call slips only the number. Is not his plan an improvement on yours?" C.

"According to my notion it would be better to train the employés to get books without numbers than to compel readers to put them on their lists. Systems of numbering and classification are primarily and ought to be entirely for the use of the Librarian and his staff, and that system is the best which imposes the least trouble on the reader. Practically we are independent of the number in our library, and it is rather the exception than the rule that our assistants ask for it, although our rules and cautions might make you think otherwise. He must be a dull boy, indeed, who does not soon learn where the popular classes, such as Biography, History, Poetry, Amusements, etc., are, and knowing the class there is no real difficulty in finding any individual book in it. In an ideal library (which I hope to see realized) one would no more expect to ask the reader to find the number of the book he wants than a grocer would expect his customers to designate the shelf on which he keeps his Young Hyson. That we have not attained this perfection here is less the fault of our system than our inability to employ competent assist

ants.

"In Mr. Dui's plan the number is everything. It is therefore simply Hobson's choice with him to compel his readers to give the shelf mark. He couldn't do otherwise if he wanted to. It is no merit of his system that readers put down the numbers on their call slips, and you will find the same improvement' in every library where books are arranged by arbitrary numbers. We could easily enforce such a cast-iron rule, but we don't want to. I hope to see the day when a reader will have no more difficulty in asking for a book in a library than he would in a book store, and when it will be no more necessary to consult a catalogue in the one than in the other."

J. S.

"Your plan is what we have always done here, only with the fixed location we worked at a great disadvantage, which is disappearing in proportion as we apply our new movable plan; but there are libraries (Amherst is one, I think) in which the call slip signed by the borrower is the only proof that he has the book. In such libraries he must write on the slip something to identify the book, and a number is much easier to write than 'author's name, title, and number.' Our system, you remember, identifies the book, without any writing on the part either of the reader or the clerk, by a card kept in the book and left at the charging desk by the borrower as his pledge.

"There is another point worth noting. Readers can dispense with the catalogue when they know what they want. But suppose they want one of Carlyle's works and have forgotten the